A date has not been set for the survey, but Ross hopes to do it in mid-May.

The council is considering having automated recycling in West U., an approach in which mechanical arms attached to trucks heave recycling carts and dump their contents.

In August, West U.'s Recycling and Solid Waste Reduction Board held a workshop with City Council and recommended that the city switch to an automated system. The board said West U.'s recycling rate of 24 percent is below the national average of 34 percent.

The board also told the council that the city would have to spend about $2.1 million to begin the automated recycling program, which includes purchasing the truck.

The council at that time had several questions about the economics of using the automated system, and before pursuing it further wanted to know the public's thoughts on recycling. This lead to the idea for the phone survey, Ross said.

The planned survey questionnaire had included two questions about purchasing more parkland, including whether residents would favor issuing a $1.5-million bond if the city needed additional funds to buy the land.

Residents already approved a $2 million bond in 2006 for parkland that has not yet been used.

But the council nixed the questions last week, saying the survey was too lengthy and the questions seemed out of place among the recycling topic.

"What you guys really want out of this is answers on trash, right?" Fry asked city staff and Ross. "Why don't we do a community-wide survey later."

Ross said he will have to find $10,000 for another survey, "which shouldn't be hard."

The council said that survey should be done in the fall to avoid summer vacation time for families. The council suggested it take place in November. Heathcott warned the council shouldn't put it off for too long.

"I think these are such important topics that the sooner we can do it the better," Heathcott said.